


think there's a flaw (in my code)

by extasiswings



Series: a love like religion [2]
Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Avocados at Law, F/M, Gen, Law School, Matt Murdock is very good at lying to himself and others, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-16
Updated: 2015-12-16
Packaged: 2018-05-07 03:51:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5442347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/extasiswings/pseuds/extasiswings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being a TA during finals week can be rough. In general, it involves a lot of time spent on campus listening to panicked 1Ls and trying to help them learn the entire semester in a few days because they didn't bother to learn it the first time.</p>
<p>Of course, sometimes it also involves spending entirely legitimate time with your soulmate. </p>
<p>(Who you still haven't informed of that fact)</p>
            </blockquote>





	think there's a flaw (in my code)

"There is a general duty to act with reasonable care, as established by _MacPherson_ , but there is no general duty to act except in the case of a special relationship, an undertaking, partial rescue, or when the actor causes the harm."

They've been at this for hours. Currently Darcy's head is in her hands and Matt can hear the muffled exhaustion in her voice as clear as anything.

"That's all correct," he acknowledges, reaching over to rest his hand against the back of her neck in reassurance. She makes a frustrated sound and rolls her shoulders and he can't resist pressing his thumb into one of the knots of tension he can feel to slowly work the muscle loose.

"I just—I want to do well," Darcy sighs. If she minds what he's doing, she certainly doesn't say.

"You will."

"That's easy for you to say, Mr. 3L 'I'm so great all the teachers fought over having me be their TA.' You've done this already."

Matt reaches over with his free hand and sets to work on her shoulders, decidedly ignoring the sound that pulls from her.

(It's a mix of surprise and pain and pleasure and it threatens to send his mind down very dangerous paths)

"Which is why I know you'll be fine."

"I—"

"Tell me about causation," he instructs, shifting his other hand from her neck to her shoulders as well.

Her heartbeat picks up and she takes a long, unsteady breath. He tries not to think about that either.

"It's the third element of the PFC. The...the defendant's unreasonable act or omission must have been a cause-in-fact or but-for cause of the plaintiff's injury."

"Does it have to be the only cause?"

"No, but it has to be a necessary cause." She makes a small hurt sound when his thumbs press into a knot near the base of her neck, but when he stills she lets her chin fall to her chest and pushes back into his hands.

"General vs. specific causation?"

It's a sweet kind of torture he's inflicting on himself. He's done so well at keeping distance between them, even as they've slowly become friends. He hardly ever touches her—certainly not like this—but he couldn't just sit there and do nothing when it’s such an easy thing to make her feel even a little better.

_She's your soulmate_ , a voice whispers in the back of his head, silky and low and smooth. _You could have this all the time. You could have more than this_.

He could. And that's the worst part really, isn't it? Because it would be so easy to tell her, even easier to show her—to lean forward and set his lips to the back of her neck which really wouldn't require anything but giving himself permission.

(Because she would let him, he knows she would, can feel it in the way her pulse skips when he finds a sensitive spot, in the way her skin heats beneath his hands, can hear the effort she puts into regulating her breathing, and it's fascinating, she's fascinating, and he wants to do more than this, wants to taste her skin and memorize every sound he can possibly pull out of her)

But he doesn't. He won't.

"Darcy—" Matt cuts her off in the middle of a sentence and swallows hard as his thumbs make one final pass over the back of her neck before he forces his hands away.

"Did I get something wrong?" She asks, a hint of panic in her voice, and he's quick to shake his head.

"No, not at all. Just...you know this stuff, okay? You have two days until the exam and you know what you're doing. You should be sleeping right now instead of stressing yourself into a tension headache on my couch at 1AM."

She groans and puts her head in her hands again.

“Is it that late? God, Matt. I’m sorry. You must be exhausted—”

“Less than you, I think,” he assures.

“Still. I should go.”

“Stay.” The word escapes him before he can think to stop it and he can hear her eyelashes brush together rapidly when she blinks in surprise.

“Are you…are you sure?”

_Not at all._

“It’s late and you’re exhausted. You shouldn’t be walking home by yourself like that, even with your taser,” he replies.

Darcy bites her lip and his focus narrows to that one point of contact until she releases it again. Internally, he curses himself for it.

“If you stay, I’ll be able to quiz you again in the morning,” he adds.

That seems to make up her mind.

“If you’re sure,” Darcy finally agrees.

“I’m sure.”

He offers his bed, but she insists on taking the couch, which he’s grateful for later on because her scent is over everything in the apartment except his bedroom and his control is excellent but why test it?

(It’s excellent, but every moment he spends with her makes his resolve slip just a little bit more because the more he gets to know her the more he understands why she’s his soulmate, why the universe thought they would be good together, and if he would just let himself—)

In the morning, after she leaves, Foggy calls him an idiot. Which, honestly, Matt doesn’t disagree with.

(Darcy aces her final. She hugs him when she finds out, throws her arms around him like it’s nothing, like it’s easy, and he supposes for her it is. She’s so happy she’s practically glowing with it and he can’t help letting his arms wrap around her waist, letting it linger than might be strictly friendly, because she’s radiant and he helped with that a little and since he reaffirmed his resolve not to touch her that last night she was over, this is what he’ll allow himself. For now. Maybe not forever. But definitely for now)

**Author's Note:**

> Finals week is a struggle and so I decided writing what was supposed to be study fluff (but was mostly more of Matt being difficult) was a totally legitimate way to study and/or de-stress. 
> 
> /throws confetti/ 
> 
> Continuing the trend: Title from "Gasoline" by Halsey


End file.
